Candy Corn

For those of us over the age of 25, when you think of Halloween candy
you think of candy corn, those sugary little spikes of Halloween cheer.
They've been around for as long as I remember and even as long as my
grandparents remember but did you know that they were invented in the
1880's? Who the first person to make these tasty treats was is unknown
but the Wunderle Candy Company of Philadelphia was the first to go into
commercial production. However, the company most closely associated with
this wonderful confection is the Goelitz Confectionery Company. Founder
Gustav Goelitz, a German immigrant, began commercial production of the
treat in 1898 in Cincinnati and is today the oldest manufacturer of the
Halloween icon.

Making
candy at the turn of the last century wasn't the highly mechanized,
year-round activity it is today. Candy was manufactured seasonally from
March through November. Large kettles were used to cook the basic
ingredients of candy corn, sugar, water, and corn syrup into a slurry.
Fondant for smooth texture and marshmallow for a soft bite would be
whipped in. When the right consistency was reached the hot candy would
be poured into hand-held buckets called runners. Each runner holding 45
pounds of the hot mixture.

Next, men called stringers would walk backward pouring the steaming
candy into trays of cornstarch imprinted with kernel-shaped molds. Three
passes were made, one for each white, orange, and yellow color. A
strenuous job at best before the days of air-conditioning and electric
fans.

All this strenuous labor wasn't lost on the tiny candy. It's tricolor
design was considered revolutionary for its time and people flocked to
buy them. Their shape was also a big selling point for the mostly agrarian
population of the early 1900's. So popular was candy corn that
companies tried other vegetable shapes including turnips. The Goelitz
Candy Company even had to turn orders down for lack of production
capacity.

Candy corn was originally sold in bulk containers like most foods products of the time. They were packed in wooden buckets, tubs, and
cartons to be delivered by wagon and train over relatively short
distances. Perishability prevented widespread distribution.

During WWI, Herman Goelitz, son of Gustav, moved to Fairfield,
California to start his own company, the Herman Goelitz Candy Company.
Their product? Candy Corn! The fortune of the Halloween treat would rise and fall many times as
recession and boom, war and peace, affected the humble confection.
Throughout the hard times it was the sale of candy corn that kept the
companies afloat. In the sugar crisis of the mid 1970's when the price
of raw sugar skyrocketed the company had to borrow heavily to buy sugar
to keep production up. After the crisis the market plummeted. Many
companies went out of business. It was demand for the candy corn that
kept Goelitz from bankruptcy.

Today you won't have to look very hard to find candy corn. Computer
and machine aided production have made them a plentiful staple no matter
what time of year. So plentiful in fact that according to the National Confectioners Association, in 2001 candy
manufacturers sold more than 20 million pounds of candy corn. Roughly
8.3 billion kernels! Very impressive for a product that has remained virtually
unchanged for well over 100 years.

Perhaps best of all, everyone can feel comfortable about enjoying
tasty kernel or two. According
to the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, candy is no different
than a slice of bread, bowl of cereal or a cracker when it comes to
causing tooth decay. Any
food that contains sugar or starch can cause tooth decay – especially
if one doesn’t brush and floss daily. So
grab a bag of candy corn and enjoy. Just remember to brush your teeth
after.